Oh, Bite Me (Guardians of the Deep 1)

“Hmm…” Evelyn replied, and as soon as the sound escaped her mouth, she lunged forward and kicked out with her right foot, slamming it into Penny’s stomach.

Penny fell backward against the boat railing and almost flipped over it but caught her balance. That was all the strength she had though. She fell to her knees, gasping for air. The kick had taken all her breath away.

“Are you okay?” Evelyn asked. “Are you hurt? Can you breathe?”

Her feet were close to Penny, underestimating her, and she’d taken enough martial arts classes to know that she wasn’t an expert by any means, but she kne

w the basics, and Evelyn was close enough for some of the basics to work.

Penny grabbed both of Evelyn’s ankles and yanked on them, pulling both the bitch’s feet out from under her. She yelped and fell backward hard, smacking her head against J.D.’s steering wheel before hitting the ground. Penny climbed to her knees and went after her, raining punches down at the woman’s face.

Evelyn slapped the fists away easily and launched an elbow up at Penny that cracked her hard on the jaw. The world swirled before her eyes and darkness started to take hold. She was blacking out. Through her fading vision, she caught a glimpse of Poet grabbing Evelyn by her bun and dragging her away. He yanked Evelyn to her feet and ran at the side of the ship, tossing her over the edge.

“Come on,” he said as he tried to help her climb to her feet. “You’ll be much safer down below. The farther from the water, the better.”

They hadn’t even reached the stairs when Evelyn leapt back up onto the ship. For the first time ever, she watched the shift take place. A full-grown shark left the ocean and was halfway through the air when it looked like a strange explosion, and then a ripple that rocked through her body. Then her human form took shape and by the time she hit the boat deck, she did it on two feet.

“That was not nice, Poet,” Evelyn said. “Why don’t you try that shit in the water?”

“Don’t tempt me,” Poet said. “You know what happens when you do.”

“Oh, you won’t like him when he’s angry,” Evelyn taunted him.

She stepped closer. Penny climbed to her feet and was ready to fight if needed, but Evelyn walked past her and toward Poet.

“Have you heard the joke about the albino who walks into a bar?” she asked him.

Poet’s fists clenched.

“No?” Evelyn asked. “Never heard it? Me neither. You know why? Because nobody gives a fuck about an albino.”

With blinding speed, Evelyn spun around and punched Penny in the face, knocking her backwards off the boat and into the water.

“Oops,” was the last thing Penny heard before she felt the cold of the water.

Then it happened. Her body was a glass vase and the saltwater was a hammer, slamming against every bone in her body. Her wrists broke first, or at least it seemed to start at her wrists. Then each finger. They snapped backward and sunk into her skin. Her legs straightened out and then caved inward at the knees. The crunch ran through her body and entered her brain where she felt a thousand miniature nails driven through her skull. It happened in seconds but felt like a lifetime, and then it was over.

Her body began to sink toward the ocean floor. Penny’s eyes fluttered open.

“I’m hurt,” a voice said, but it seemed to be in her mind.

“Take that, motherfucker,” came another voice.

“Does anyone see Evelyn?” came one that sounded like Thane.

The voices came at her and she couldn’t do anything to stop them. And she was drowning. No air came to her and she was too deep to open her mouth and inhale. Mechanically, her body seemed to begin doing what needed to be done to keep her alive. Her fins moved and then air came but only enough to keep her alive. She was moving too slowly.

She was trying to figure out how to speed up when she felt the impact. Something slammed into her hard. It was another shark. Evelyn. She’d jumped in after her. Penny flipped. She lost complete control of her body as it turned over underwater. She couldn’t figure out which way was up, and which was down, and before she could spend any more time on the thought, she felt the teeth at her side. Jagged blades tore at her flesh. Evelyn had bitten the shit out of her. A red stream swirled in the water all around her and Penny got a taste of her own blood.

I’m going to die. I’m going to fucking die without having the chance to fight back.

She turned herself upright and tried to swim away when she saw the shark coming again. Then, from underneath came a larger shark, this one a giant, a great white, with its mouth open and ready. It was the stuff of nightmares, razor sharp teeth and a giant snout. Penny knew she was going to die. This was it. In her head, she said a final goodbye to Thane.

But the shark swerved around Penny and attacked Evelyn, slamming its teeth into her from beneath.

Penny didn’t stay to watch the fight. She turned and made her way toward the boat. She couldn’t compete underwater. It was a game she would lose no matter what, so she needed to get back onboard. Behind her, she could hear the thrashing in the water as Evelyn fought off the much larger shark. Penny thought of how lucky she’d been to have the shark go after Evelyn instead of her.

Excitement ran through her as she saw the boat’s ladder up ahead. She swam toward it as fast as she could handle, and it was like her body knew instinctively what to do. She mentally reached for the ladder the way she would have done if she were in human form, and then in another second of bone shattering madness, her hand grabbed hold of the metal bar. She fought through the pain of shifting and hoisted herself back onto the boat where she collapsed onto her back and sobbed. She’d never felt pain so immense in all her life. Her side ached, and she wondered if she would bleed out and die on the boat deck.